


Soldier of Fire

by chronicAngel



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Amputation, Angst, Blood, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Namikaze Minato Lives, Naruto is a Namikaze, No Uchiha Massacre, SasuSaku Month 2017, Uzumaki Kushina Lives, War, Warring States Period (Naruto)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-17
Updated: 2017-07-17
Packaged: 2019-01-29 02:16:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12620912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chronicAngel/pseuds/chronicAngel
Summary: "Sakura, that's an enemy!"SasuSaku Day 17: War Torn





	Soldier of Fire

Sakura is a naturally kindhearted person. It's why it's hard for her to stand in a tent with her best friend in the whole world, strategizing with the strongest woman in the world, who also happens to be her teacher, sheltered from the violence outside; screams filter through the thick cloth of the walls and make her wince, but she keeps her eyes on the figures around her and keeps her back straight. "I don't get it, Granny Tsunade, why am I the solution to this battle?" Naruto's words make her snap back into reality, and she drags her eyes to him in time to see him pointing at himself as though trying to highlight his question.

"Of course you don't get it, Naruto," Tsunade sighs, exasperated.

"You're the only one of our soldiers with the Nine-Tailed Fox sealed within you is why, idiot," Sakura grits her teeth, but the insult is as lighthearted as it is genuine. The blonde beside her chuckles and simply replies that, oh yeah, he knew that, obviously.

Tsunade smooths out the map in front of her, though Sakura suspects they don't actually need it anymore, and then elaborates, "That's correct. Naruto, as you have the Nine-Tailed Fox sealed within you, you have incredible chakra reserves to call upon, even better than Sakura's or my own, which means that you are the perfect candidate to outlast the Uchiha Armies. Your increased regeneration rate isn't lost on me, either."

She picks up on this train of thought and wonders aloud, "Oh, that makes sense, actually. Naruto, if you're on the front lines, then we can focus our medic-nin on the back, so we're less likely to lose any healers. Then we can treat the soldiers who were already injured and had to fall back and send you back-up..." She trails off, imagining a new battle tactic, but she doesn't have much time to reflect on it.

Two soldiers with black hair and dark eyes stumble into the tent, one leaning heavily on the other with his arm looped over his shoulders, the other staring at the first with wide eyes filled with concern.

It is because Sakura is so naturally kindhearted that she can't turn them back, even as her eyes land on the Uchiha crests on their backs.

It doesn't help that she knows these two soldiers.

"Sasuke," she breathes, quiet enough that no one else can hear it, and she moves closer to them before she even knows what she's doing, hand reaching out to help catch the aforementioned soldier as he falls forward from his brother's grasp. He falls into her arms, and she looks to his brother as she wraps them around him. "Itachi, what happened to him?" The entire world outside of the three of them is nothing but white noise and circumstances in that moment.

"He was injured." She gives him a harsh glare that says _Obviously_ and quietly urges him to elaborate as she runs her eyes over the boy to assess his injuries, wincing when she notices the large sections of shredded skin along his arms. "As two of the strongest fighters of our clan," she notes the way that he doesn't say the name Uchiha, and the way that his eyes linger on Tsunade in the background, "we were in the frontlines. He was attacked by Namikaze."

Her eyes go wide and flicker with concern before she stares at the man in her arms in amazement. "Namikaze? General Minato? He's lucky to be alive!" She sees the way his left arm and the skin that lays over his ribs on one side is shredded and her mind flashes to the aftereffects of a Rasengan. "Really lucky..."

Everyone in the room seems to come to life at the same time; Naruto mutters something about the bastard needing Sakura to save him (although if she remembers correctly, she was saving _his_ ass just an hour ago), Itachi exits the tent despite the worry lines clear on his face just as Shizune ducks her head in to report to Lady Tsunade about something, and Sasuke mumbles her name into her shoulder at the same time that Tsunade hisses at Sakura through clenched teeth, "Sakura, that's an enemy!" When she looks at her shishou, her amber eyes are lit with fire like the Uchiha outside and inside this tent alike have been known to use. Still, when their eyes meet, though the anger is still there, she sees the way her teacher's gaze softens a fraction.

"He's hurt, Tsunade-sama," she says, voice surprisingly calm for how panicked and sick to her stomach she feels. When it looks as though she still hasn't managed to change the other woman's mind, she straightens and lays Sasuke back against the floor (which is really just dirty ground that has been weathered to smoothness by frequent pacing). "I took an oath: I _will not_ just sit back and allow someone to die when I could help them, enemy or otherwise." Her eyes have that same fire, pointed anger behind sharp green eyes as she stares down the strongest woman in the world; she's the only one who can do it and win.

"I'm fine," he mumbles, but even as he says it it is through gritted teeth and so she stops bothering to argue with her teacher.

She sighs as she looks down at him; he's so beautiful. His hair perfectly frames his face, though this effect is admittedly highlighted by the way the strands stick to his cheeks with dried blood (she doesn't want to consider whether it is his or someone else's). His eyes are half-lidded, and though it is because he is in pain and exhausted, the expression reminds her of the way that tired lovers look at each other in the middle of the night. She smooths back his hair and sighs as she looks into his eyes, looks at the way that they are filled with such pain.

It takes her a minute to shake herself back into the harsh, biting reality of the fact that just by treating him she is betraying the Senju clan and, by extension, her people, that by healing this painfully beautiful man, she is endangering her own position. She could be exiled for this. "Naruto," she bites over her shoulder, watching the way he goes rigid as though hoping there is some other Naruto she may be addressing. "I need you to help me bring him to the medical tent." She is certainly strong enough to carry him there on her own, but she unfortunately needs help carrying him there without jarring his injuries. She takes the way that Tsunade stays silent, simply crosses her arms and looks the other way, as permission, and she supposes that the jinchūriki must take it as such, too, because the moment she does he is at Sakura's side, surprisingly gentle as they guide Sasuke to standing.

Shizune doesn't address her as she and Naruto walk past her with the Uchiha like traitors, but she thinks she can feel a withering look aimed at her back as they continue to move away from the shelter of the tent. She thinks that she should be out there fighting, but as one of the best medics on hand (and in the world), she is needed away from the danger, healing soldiers as they fall and making sure she doesn't get herself killed because if she dies, who is going to treat the complex injuries? Lady Tsunade can't do it all on her own before the people die for their injuries. She waves the rest of the medic-nin away except for two boys-- and really, that's what they are, hardly seventeen, and it breaks her heart a little-- and then sends them for supplies as she examines Sasuke's arm.

Looking at it closer makes her wince, as she realizes that the appendage is twisted and has multiple bones that are broken or shattered. A couple of his ribs are cracked, as well, but it doesn't take her very long to heal something that small and so she busies herself with that while waiting for the boys to retrieve water, a salve she has only recently perfected for burns (she can only hope that it will work for his injuries, which aren't quite like anything she's seen before), and bandages. Naruto looks suspiciously green, but she instructs him over to hold Sasuke down as she pushes the few ribs that are out of place back to the position they belong in. For Sasuke's part, he does stay surprisingly still, although his choked gurgle of pain doesn't exactly go over her head.

She sighs and looks over him again, at just how much blood is soaking what's left of his shirt (his armor is nowhere to be seen) and at the way his shoulder appears to be twisted out of its socket. She sees so much pain in him. Beyond the physical distress of his injuries, she sees the pain of a boy who has seen too much, the same pain that she sees in Naruto, no matter how much he hides it beneath layers of optimism. She sees that pain in both of them, now. "Naruto, you can go..."

"Sakura, I can help!" He knows nothing about medical ninjutsu, but this is his friend, and she's sure that he'll want to help with Sasuke in any way that he can. She appreciates the effort, but unfortunately, she knows there isn't anything Naruto can do for him. She's not sure there's anything she can do, yet.

"Naruto, there's nothing you can do. His injuries are bad; he and Itachi are just lucky that they found me when they did, and that it was me they came to in the first place. None of the Uchihas' healers would have been able to do anything for him." Her tone is firm, but Naruto is stubborn, and he simply straightens and juts his chin out as though that's any sort of argument. She sighs in exasperation, "They need you on the front lines..." After a second of hesitation, she adds, "And... I don't want you to have to see this." His eyes widen, and though Sasuke maintains as much outward calm as he can, she still sees the way his breath hitches in his chest.

Then, after a moment of clear hesitance, Naruto nods fractionally and turns to leave the medical tent.

"Sasuke," her attention shifts to him entirely even as the boys return with the supplies she requested, "the bones in your hand and arm are shattered and incredibly out of place. You'll be lucky if I can mend them at all. I need you to understand that there's a serious possibility..." She can't finish her sentence, giving him a serious look.

He breathes, "Amputation," and she can only nod her sympathy. There's a second, a brief flash, really, where he looks completely vulnerable, and she latches onto that look as her heart throbs in her chest for a boy who she isn't supposed to love. His clan has been at war with the Senju for as long as any living person can remember, and her family has been aligned with the Senju longer than she's been alive. Then the look is gone and his face is stony as he nods. "Okay."

"Sasuke, I can still try--"

"There's no point." She winces, both because he leaves no room to argue with his words, but also because she knows that he is right; there are too many broken and shattered bones, and the skin and flesh around his injuries is too deeply wounded to completely mend. The best she can do is treat the more minor injuries on the rest of his body, like the deep cuts along his side and the single broken bone in his other arm. The best she can do is try to return him to a fighting condition, as little as she wants to. "We both know that healing my arm would be a complex job, and it'd take more chakra than even you have."

She privately thinks that she could probably fix him completely if she had the help of Lady Tsunade, but while she may be willing to look the other way as Sakura heals one of the Uchihas' best soldiers, there is no way in hell she would ever help her. So she's stuck with an impossible choice: exhaust all of her chakra reserves to heal an injury that she won't be able to completely repair, and then continue treating an enemy for weeks afterward, assuming Lady Tsunade and General Minato would even allow her this ongoing betrayal, or go with the easiest and, honestly, best solution. "Shouldn't someone from the enemy's army like you be hoping to exhaust my chakra?" There's a joking tone in her voice that she's surprised doesn't waver, and everything inside of her softens as she sees the little smirk playing on his lips.

She nods a bit and sets to work on washing out his injuries. Even if she is going to be starting amputation soon, that's no reason to leave his injuries untreated; that's practically begging for an infection. He shudders when the cold water meets his skin, but he seems to adapt after only a few seconds, laying flat against the cloth and sheets spread out on the hard ground as a makeshift bed.

There's a feeling like washing her hands when she focuses her chakra, a green glow meeting her skin and her eyes as she begins the healing process, a soothing confidence filling her the way it always does at the feeling of skin and flesh mending itself under her hands.

It takes almost an hour to heal all of the damage on the rest of his body. While the wounds to his arm and side are all clearly from Namikaze, she scowls at the thought that he didn't tell her about the other injuries he has clearly sustained. Most prominently, among the scars that riddle his abdomen and legs are new gashes from kunai and shuriken, and there's a particularly nasty laceration across his chest like one of the members of his own clan somehow mistook him for an enemy (a ridiculous notion, really, since he is the spitting image of Uchiha Izuna). She doesn't talk to him while she works, too focused, but she is dying to know why he wouldn't come to her sooner (even if it is forbidden, really, and this whole thing is against the laws everyone and everything they've ever loved other than each other have put in place) and how, exactly, he was planning to take care of all of this before General Minato's attack. After all, it shouldn't take the legendary Yellow Flash for him to know she'll always help him, no matter the personal risk.

She's already pretty exhausted by the time she's healed everything else, and she wipes at imaginary sweat on her forehead that is really just an excuse to focus on something else for a moment. When she looks back to her patient (and she has to force herself to use the least familiar terms possible), he's looking at her in _that way;_ as though he completely adores her, but it's with a layer of nonchalance she couldn't replicate if she was trying. It's like he's sneaking a glance at a piece of precious art, but trying not to look too much like he cares in case someone catches him.

She can feel her cheeks heating up and she clears her throat, looking away. "Your wounds are..." She trails off, and when she looks back at him, he's still got that look on his face, a surprising turn; normally, when she or anyone else catches him showing such emotion, he'll act like his usual emotionally constipated self. Even despite the war, she's known him long enough and well enough to notice, and so it is jarring, almost, to see him maintain this. "Sasuke, I'm sorry..." She doesn't know what she's apologizing for, really, as she rests a hand on his cheek and just _looks_ at him.

"What are you apologizing for?" She doesn't have an answer, and she almost laughs, rubbing at the back of her neck with the hand that she doesn't rest on his face awkwardly, though she thinks that it might just be an excuse not to stare at the way he is so affectionate in that moment. The thought occurs to her that perhaps, he is doing this because of the distinct possibility that he could die. "Don't be so annoying," he mutters, and she's left with surprising mirth and scrubs at the blood dried against the side of his face with her fingernails. Of course, he knows her better than almost anyone else. "You're stalling." She is. She doesn't like the idea of removing his arm any more than she likes the idea of removing the arm of someone she doesn't even know, and she already has issues with amputation without factoring in the fact that she is in love with the patient. There is a reason doctors aren't supposed to treat their loved ones, and it's the same reason relatives aren't assigned to squadrons together.

"I am," she breathes honestly, as she knows better than to try to lie to him. He doesn't say anything out loud, just takes her hand and squeezes it and then moves it to his bad arm with a grimace just to stress the reality of the situation; if this were a movie, this would be the point where someone walked in on the two of them in the middle of what could be deemed an awkward moment. Lee would poke his head in to report on the battle conditions or, knowing the idiot, Naruto will be dragged in with severe injuries from running in without thinking about it.

"Shouldn't someone from the enemy's army like you be hoping to remove my dominant arm?"

She knows that he's joking, but it hits her shockingly hard, and she feels the hurt flicker across her face, but at the same time it's jarring enough that it pulls her back into the reality of the situation like she imagines it was supposed to. She takes a small but deep breath, closes her eyes for a second, and by the time she opens them they are filled with a new determination, forming the signs ( _tiger, horse, rabbit, rat, dog_ ) and then dragging the blaze of blue along his bad arm. He balls his good hand into a fist at his other side and grits his teeth, clearly (though poorly) choking back yells, and she uses her free hand to hold him down with enough strength that it is possible even Naruto with all of the strength from Kurama wouldn't be able to squirm his way out of her hold.

She focuses hard on removing the tiny bone fragments in his hand and in his arm, and it's a particularly frustrating process because he is struggling and yelling and while, yes, she feels bad that he's in pain, she can't help but also be annoyed because _he's distracting her, Shannaro!_ This is a complex process and she needs her full attention, which she can't exactly dedicate to the surgery if she's also holding him down and trying to filter out his yells. It takes another two hours, and there are many times where she has to break completely because his screaming is too loud or the pain is obviously too much for him (and on one occasion because a younger soldier enters the room and nearly throws up on him), but she finally removes all of the chips and shreds and fragments of bone.

Sasuke is panting, and his mouth is bleeding from where he was probably biting on his lips and the insides of his cheeks to keep from yelling (he spits every once in a while, and she doesn't scold him even as he stains the sheet even further and gets his blood on her face). It's three minutes before he is composed enough for her to begin surgery again, both because she needs to give him a few minutes and because she requests the two young medic-nin from earlier to get her any anesthesia they can find.

She washes her hands before beginning again, and then she steps toward him, summoning the chakra scalpel once more to begin the careful incisions on his arm. More needs to be removed than she expected, and though the anesthesia has helped a bit, it wasn't strong enough to knock him unconscious. It's almost amusing to watch the way he stares at his arm as she works on it, to see how his eyes widen when his blood spills onto her clothes and she doesn't even react, how he winces.

It takes a stronger concentration of chakra eventually to get through the end of the bone, and then the rest of the way through his arm is like slicing through butter that's been in the freezer for a few days; it's solid, but still not as challenging as it might otherwise be. She seals off the blood vessels and the nerves (though admittedly it's much harder than it might be for a medic-nin with an affinity for lightning or fire), and the final step is to manually reshape the muscles at the end of the amputation. She has to make a few cuts, but for the most part, it is easy to mold into something resembling a stump that may later be able to receive a prosthetic.

She stitches the loose skin at the end together and then she's back to healing it, trying to get the skin and muscle to connect to each other before more cells and tissue die and she is left to remove even more than she already has. It takes almost half an hour on its own, and she is so exhausted by the time that she's finished that she collapses against his bloody chest, thankful she's sealed the wounds and broken ribs there so she's only landing on bruises.

"You'd better not try to go back out into battle," she says, tone a playful warning. He's quiet for a moment, then lifts his good (now only) hand and brushes her cheekbone.

"You have blood in your hair..."

**Author's Note:**

> This was surprisingly fun to write, so maybe I'll make a series out of it at some point. Who knows?


End file.
